Governor seeks to cut programs Dems pledge to save

Governor targets programs top Democrats seek to save

Published 4:00 am, Monday, May 21, 2012

Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special To The Chronicle

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California Governor Jerry Brown announces his revised state budget, cutting an additional $8.3 billion in an effort to close the $15.7 billion deficit at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., May 14, 2012.

California Governor Jerry Brown announces his revised state budget, cutting an additional $8.3 billion in an effort to close the $15.7 billion deficit at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., May 14, 2012.

Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special To The Chronicle

Governor seeks to cut programs Dems pledge to save

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Sacramento --

Gov. Jerry Brown's latest budget proposal attempts to close a formidable$15.7 billion deficit, but the real debate at the Capitol in the next few weeks probably will be over how to cut just a fraction of the big amount.

That's because about $2 billion in the governor's budget represents permanent reductions in spending on state welfare, child care and other programs that Democratic leaders in the Senate and Assembly have pledged to protect.

Brown's other budget proposals might be more controversial with the Legislature if the state weren't facing such a large shortfall. Those include one-time solutions such as his proposal to seize almost $300 million from the national mortgage settlement that Attorney General Kamala Harris hoped to use to help distressed mortgage payers stay in their homes.

Some of Brown's other reductions, like delaying the repayment of some loans, won't cause a stir at all. The Legislature, which can pass a budget by a majority vote, has just under four weeks to approve a spending plan to cover the deficit by the June 15 deadline.

The scope of the dilemma faced by Democratic lawmakers and the governor was reflected in comments made by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, last week as he sought to reframe the situation by comparing it with the huge deficits of the past several years.

"I'm going to stop referring to this as a crisis," Steinberg said. "It's a problem."

Not that the haggling on the relatively small permanent cuts will be easy. Both Brown and Steinberg predicted difficult negotiations, though Steinberg said, "I'm not looking for a big public fight here."

4 touchy proposals

There are four main proposals over which Democrats and the governor are most likely to butt heads.

Those include proposed cuts to CalWORKS, the state's welfare-to-work program; cuts to Cal Grants, which provides financial aid for low-income college students; reductions in state support for child care; and reductions to the In-Home Supportive Services program for the blind, elderly and disabled.

Brown has proposed $1.85 billion in reductions to those programs, including:

-- An $880 million cut to CalWORKS by reducing from four years to two years the amount of time adults can receive welfare payments if they do not meet specific requirements for work activities.

-- A $292 million cut to Cal Grants by increasing the minimum grade point average for students to qualify and reducing grants for students attending private or for-profit colleges and universities.

-- A $425.5 million cut in the funding the state gives families to subsidize child care expenses, resulting in the loss of 29,600 child care slots.

-- A $224.5 million cut to In-Home Supportive Services through a 7 percent reduction in hours for providers and by eliminating some services for people who are in a shared living arrangement.

Under the governor's proposal, much of the rest of the deficit would be made up by his November tax initiative, which would increase sales taxes and income taxes on individuals making $250,000 a year or more. If passed, it would generate about $8.5 billion in funds to help solve the deficit. An additional $2.5 billion would come from "other" noncontroversial sources, such as the loan repayment delay or taking monies from special funds.

Cutting workweek

The state would trim $400 million in compensation for state workers by cutting the length of the workweek to reduce their pay by 5 percent. State employees would work longer hours over four days instead of five for a total of 38 hours per week. State offices would stay open longer on those days as well. The proposal has already received support from major unions.

Additionally, the governor is proposing some one-time solutions such as taking the money paid to the state from major banks as part of the national mortgage settlement, taking $1.4 billion of the remaining assets of the dismantled redevelopment agencies, and continuing the suspension of state mandates to save $828 million.

State courts would see construction projects halted and some of their reserve accounts swiped, amounting to $544 million.

While there may be some objections to taking the mortgage settlement and court money to pay for general state services, not doing so would require cutting the $836 million from somewhere else.

In discussing his budget plan in an interview with CBS' Charlie Rose that aired Friday, Brown said his budget includes "very drastic cuts in almost every area of state government," and went on to say, "We're going to have to cut some good in order to avoid some bad."

Republicans skeptical

But Republicans at the Capitol scoff at the notion that the state is making deep, broad-based cuts, noting that only a small portion of the proposal consists of permanent reductions to programs that Democrats support.

"It's definitely a 'kick the can down the road' budget because you're just not going to have any cuts there, or very few," said Senate Republican leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County). He said the portrayal of deep reductions is a political move to persuade Californians to vote for the November tax measure.

"This is the second year in a row we've seen the governor set up the budget for a tax increase," he said, noting that the automatic trigger cuts proposed by Brown if the initiative fails fall almost entirely on public schools, colleges and universities.